On Monday, we began our parent wellbeing focus and enjoyed welcoming you all back after the weekend by serving teas and coffees on the gate. Hopefully the Monday morning rush, will feel a lot better when you arrive. Thanks to Mss Douglas, Ms Johnson and Ms Martharu for helping me bring this vision to life.

Mrs Swain and Mrs Rizzi have started home visits for new children joining us in September. It's been wonderful meeting our new families in their home environments. We still have places available for September 2026, so please do let your friends and family know if they're looking for a primary school place.

So proud of our Y4 children who did so well in their multiplication checks! Nearly half of the class achieved full makes and over 80% achieved more than 70%! We are delighted with their results and I am so greateful to the children, their parents and tecahers for all their hardwork.

We will be sharing information about class organisation for next year shortly, along with details of our parent transition meeting. We've been reflecting on parent feedback about how we can improve our communications with you, and we're taking your views on board as we plan for the year ahead. A letter with full details will follow soon.

We're delighted to announce that we'll be running our own Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) club for 4 weeks this summer – it's great to have this provision back at St Joseph's! Children eligible for Pupil Premium will be automatically enrolled, and all children are welcome to attend. All children who attend will be provided with lunch. More details and booking information will follow shortly.

Last Friday, I had the privilege of meeting with The Rt Hon Bridget Phillipson MP, the Secretary of State for Education. This was an invaluable opportunity to listen to her vision for education and to ask questions on behalf of schools like ours, ensuring that the realities of primary education are understood by those making national policy decisions. All of the outreac work I do directly benefits St Joseph's – it keeps us informed, connected, and ensures we have a voice in shaping the future of education.

It has been an incredibly hot week. Yet, we managed to keep our schools open and as cool as possible. Thank to to all the staff who went above and beyond to ensure the children remainded cool and focused on their learning. I was very impressed by the innovation the team showed to keep the children and themselves cool. Thank you and well done.

I hope you and your family have a wonderful weekend and manage to stay cool,

Mrs Ashley and the Team

"Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds."

Hebrews 10:24

Wellbeing

Staying well in a heatwave

Warm weather is something many of us look forward to. But a heatwave can have a severe impact on our mental health.

Many people will be struggling with fatigue, irritability and low mood brought on by the hot weather during the day and broken sleep at night.

Everyone experiences heat differently, here are a few ways to stay on top of things:

Drink small amounts of water often
Wear loose, light clothing
Keep windows open but block out sunlight from your home, especially in the room where you sleep
Learn about the symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat stroke, just so you can spot these if they do arise
If your condition worsens, get in touch with your GP

Early Years

Book of the week for Nursery is Dear Zoo. We have been talking about different pets we know we can and can't have. We don't want an elephant because it is too big and we don't want a camel as there are too grumpy. We have decided a puppy is perfect. We have loved acting out the story.

Key Stage 1

🎉This week year 1 have enjoyed reading their new book 'The Scarecrow's Wedding'. They enjoyed role playing, sequencing and retelling ghe story. It has been amazing to see the progress they have made this year. We are so proud of year1!

Lower Key Stage 2

Year 4 have had a fabulous week celebrating our success in the MTC - almost half of the year group got full marks and nearly 80% of the year group achieved 20 or more correct answers. We are so proud of all of the children as they worked hard and did their best.

We have also been enjoying science week. We have spent quite a bit of time exploring the Forest Schools, looking for different bugs and classifying the leaves and plants that we have seen.

Please remember in the heat that we are having that the children should all have water bottles in school.

Upper Key Stage 2

Despite the intense heat this week, the children in Year 6 have remained focused and engaged in their learning. In Maths, they have been researching climate data, plotting bar and line graphs, and converting miles to kilometres. Some children have also investigated shape through NRICH problem-solving activities linked to the flags of the world.

In English, the children have been busy writing TripAdvisor-style hotel reviews, formal letters, and recounts about their recent trip to PGL. We have been extremely impressed by how sensible and responsible they have been both indoors and outdoors during the hot weather. To help keep everyone comfortable and safe, the children have enjoyed a range of calm activities inside while continuing to work hard and maintain their excellent attitude to learning.